The Revenant

[Mr. Blaileen]

Leo Dicaprio. Tom Hardy.

This looks really good.

[RocketScience]

That is one badass trailer, one of the best I've ever seen. Can't wait for this one.

[Mr. Blaileen]

The lighting and cinematography look fantastic..and I'll watch pretty much anything Hardy or Dicaprio does these days.

Plus, bear fights.

Take my money, plz.

[Pillfred]

No love? I'm stupid excited for this. I doubt it'll be perfect, but still it looks amazing.

[neorev]

I saw it last week... a screener leaked online... I thought it was pretty darn good. Pretty brutal. Beautifully shot and directed. Alejandro Inarttiu, Emmanuel Lubezki, & Leonard DiCaprio need some Oscar nods. Deserves a 70mm release. I do want to see it again in the theater on a big screen.

[Mr. Blaileen]

Yeah, I'm really tempted to get the leak, but I think I'll wait for the big screen. I've heard nothing but good things about the film so far; glad you liked it. VERY EXCITE!1

[Substance242]

Wow. Just... WOW.

Yes, I am guilty of seeing DVDSCR, but for this, I am definitely going to cinema (see, this is how pirating can work). Not sure if this is 2015, but if it is, movie of the 2015, absolutely zero doubts, zero. I had to rewind the bear scene just to spot something wrong... nothing. Then one more time... nothing, still.

And, what about that last shot? Looking at Oscars? :-) Looking at me? Why? :-)

Also, at the end I felt like the Radiohead Spectre song is about to start... why, no idea.

PS: Maybe I mentioned this somewhere already, but Leonardo is for me the actor with the best movie trilogy sequence ever: Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, Inception.

[neorev]

The DVD Screener's quality that leaked is quite good.

[Substance242]

There are movies you think about the next morning right after waking up, they stick in your brain. Happened for me with e.g. Fight Club, or What Dreams May Come, or Children of Men, and now again. Can not wait to see this properly in cinema. But really, what is the last look about? I would think something like "this is now, I have given it all I have, there is nothing left in me right now".

[elevenism]

There are movies you think about the next morning right after waking up, they stick in your brain. Happened for me with e.g. Fight Club, or What Dreams May Come, or Children of Men, and now again. Can not wait to see this properly in cinema. But really, what is the last look about? I would think something like "this is now, I have given it all I have, there is nothing left in me right now".

i think he was dying.
did you hear the breathing in the credits? it slowed and then stopped.

[Substance242]

No no no no no, I do not want him to die, that can not be it, no way! (smile)

[neorev]

It is based on a true story... but the book this movie is based on is fictional re-imagining.

[Mr. Blaileen]

The two words I can best use to describe this movie are brutal and beautiful. Pretty simple premise with top notch acting and cinematography. I lost count of how many incredible shots I saw. Almost all the action takes place outdoors, so I can see why the film was a nightmare to shoot.

Tom Hardy destroyed it. Never have I thoroughly disliked a character and loved the actor's performance of it simultaneously. Also, if Leo doesn't get his Oscar for this, I'm not sure what will get him one.

[Substance242]

But really, what is the last look about? I would think something like "this is now, I have given it all I have, there is nothing left in me right now".

So, IMDB.com thinks the answer is:

To make a final connection with the audience and to help them comprehend the complete journey as it's done.

The entire film showed us what kind of man Hugh Glass was and the lengths he was willing to go to survive. The final look he gives us is almost his way of asking you what kind of person you are and how far you would go.

To show you the emptiness he feels having completed his revenge, but ultimately not succeeding in his true goal of bringing back his son.

[implanted_microchip]

What a powerful movie. Absolutely incredible. Inarritu is a real genius, and Lubezki may be my favorite cinematographer. What a fucking film. I'm really overwhelmed by this one. Ugh. Inarritu could get Best Director two years in a row and I'd be cool with it.

[Swykk]

I saw this last night and it was intense as well as excellent. I am a sucker for revenge movies and this delivered.

[Substance242]

It starts here in cinemas on Thu, can't wait to see/hear it properly.

Reminds me - I wish I could see Children of Men in cinema.

[blackholesun]

Saw it over the weekend. Gorgeous movie.

[center27j]

i can't believe you guys are fawning all over this film...i was super excited to see this and my god, what a letdown. the first 20 mins are solid, unfortunately the balance (2hrs, 10mins) is nothing but pretentious filler. i'm so sick of all these movies that are supposedly so exhilarating and thrilling and are anything but...if i wanted to see a guy grunt and moan in the wilderness for 2+ hrs i'd watch a man vs wild rerun.

yes, i can appreciate the cinematography, but let face it that does not make a "brilliant" film. and while i like tom hardy, hasnt he played enough characters with unintelligible/mumbling dialogue at this pt?

[implanted_microchip]

You're entitled to your opinion but in my eyes that was 2 hours of a man's deep personal battle with spiritual demons and attempting to accept and overcome the pain and grief his life had brought him, trying to survive in the natural world and having to see and accept that destruction, death, chaos and loss are all as much forces of nature as the bears, rivers, wolf packs and ants eating beetles are. Not just someone grunting a lot. For me it presented a man struggling with the weight of his soul and trying to make sense of seemingly senseless things.

In a lot of ways, the commentary on the natural world and the brutality of nature reminds me a lot of von Trier's Antichrist, just a lot less bitter or negative in presentation.

Glass is someone who from the beginning of the film has been wounded more than any physical injury we see him take, and that's shown through the dreams and visions he has of the burning village his lover died in long before we first see his face. That's what he's fighting with. That pile of skulls he just can't walk away from. The way that those things are simply brushed past, moved on from, and yet he can't seem to do any of that. And then he loses more, and he has to be reborn. I watched a man die completely inside only to rise back up as something else entirely, something still damaged, but something far stronger, and who knows at what cost.

It felt like a whole lot more than a typical revenge movie. It felt to me like a closely intimate examination of the human spirit and the way we process grief and death, and the way all of these struggles on such a small scale fit into the natural world in the much larger scheme of things. We can be laughing and catching snowflakes on our tongues one evening and hanging from a tree the next, and for what? Where's the order in any of this? Where's the meaning? Those are the sorts of things I got from it, and not from pseudo-intellectual dialogue, but through the way the world was shown to us, the way Glass persevered and faltered and the way everything was presented. I got a lot more from it than just pretty shots or moaning in the wilderness.

[center27j]

You're entitled to your opinion but in my eyes that was 2 hours of a man's deep personal battle with spiritual demons and attempting to accept and overcome the pain and grief his life had brought him, trying to survive in the natural world and having to see and accept that destruction, death, chaos and loss are all as much forces of nature as the bears, rivers, wolf packs and ants eating beetles are. Not just someone grunting a lot. For me it presented a man struggling with the weight of his soul and trying to make sense of seemingly senseless things.

In a lot of ways, the commentary on the natural world and the brutality of nature reminds me a lot of von Trier's Antichrist, just a lot less bitter or negative in presentation.

Glass is someone who from the beginning of the film has been wounded more than any physical injury we see him take, and that's shown through the dreams and visions he has of the burning village his lover died in long before we first see his face. That's what he's fighting with. That pile of skulls he just can't walk away from. The way that those things are simply brushed past, moved on from, and yet he can't seem to do any of that. And then he loses more, and he has to be reborn. I watched a man die completely inside only to rise back up as something else entirely, something still damaged, but something far stronger, and who knows at what cost.

It felt like a whole lot more than a typical revenge movie. It felt to me like a closely intimate examination of the human spirit and the way we process grief and death, and the way all of these struggles on such a small scale fit into the natural world in the much larger scheme of things. We can be laughing and catching snowflakes on our tongues one evening and hanging from a tree the next, and for what? Where's the order in any of this? Where's the meaning? Those are the sorts of things I got from it, and not from pseudo-intellectual dialogue, but through the way the world was shown to us, the way Glass persevered and faltered and the way everything was presented. I got a lot more from it than just pretty shots or moaning in the wilderness.

i see all your pts...however i dont think it translated well on screen, it was monotonous (i was battling, much like glass, to stay awake). i understood his pain (mental/physical) after a few scenes, there wasnt enough substance to fill an entire movie. it was dull, to say the least.

[Wretchedest]

Good, enjoyable movie, although there was much that could have cut, especially in the interest of suspension of disbelief: a guy can only take so much of a beating and still walk away from it. We are pushing it when he gets mauled by that bear, it should be enough but for some reason its only the start of his problems.

Cinematography was insane, what a fantastic, mindblowing movie to look at! Good stuff there. Leo's performance... I always think Leo is great, and this is no exception. I don't know if it is the best performance of the year... Havent really watched much else.

[mfte]

As far as the technical side of film making goes, this was incredible. I can only imagine the pain the actors and crew went through to shoot this. The movie felt a lot like Cast Away meets Aguirre, The Wrath of God.

Things could have been cut a little shorter to serve the story. Someone give Leo the Oscar before this cracker kills himself.

Spoiler: I was taken out of the film for moment when Glass caugh the fish, started eating it but then swiped his hair so that the camera would catch him fully eating. When I read the factual account of his festering wounds I was really hoping they would show him getting the maggots on there Gladiator style. The parts I would cut out would mostly consist of the Terry Malick sequences as well as the "sleep inside BoJack Horseman part.... as wonderful as that sequence, and the one leading to it, were

[Mr. Blaileen]

After watching it a second time, I agree that things could probably have been cut a little shorter..but the cinematography and soundtrack are so good that it doesn't bother me. The camera work impressed me even more the second time around. During some of the battle sequences, some of the shots continue for thirty seconds or a minute at a time before cutting to another one..the choreography and execution alone blow my mind.

Picked up the soundtrack on amazon for $10. Well worth it, and I love how it swells up at just the right time to add an extra punch to whatever scene is taking place.

[icecream]

I love this movie!! I saw it a second time yesterday and it was more enjoyable on the second viewing. I need to see it again.

[dlb]

I finally gave in and saw it yesterday at a grand old theatre here... the cinematography blew me away and like Blaileen mentioned the long shots really added something. Truly a masterpiece in that regards. Other than that I really did not enjoy the soundtrack at all, while the overall sound editing was beyond amazing (oh the animal noises, especially the Elk cries...). And as much as Di Caprio has grown as an actor I just don't like him and his performances. Over all I was rather underwhelmed by the movie as a whole but it definitely was worth seeing at the big screen although it was a drag in the 2/3rd.

The raid at the camp in the beginning is probably one of my most favorite moments in recent film though.

[cashpiles (closed)]

i can't believe you guys are fawning all over this film...i was super excited to see this and my god, what a letdown. the first 20 mins are solid, unfortunately the balance (2hrs, 10mins) is nothing but pretentious filler. i'm so sick of all these movies that are supposedly so exhilarating and thrilling and are anything but...if i wanted to see a guy grunt and moan in the wilderness for 2+ hrs i'd watch a man vs wild rerun.

yes, i can appreciate the cinematography, but let face it that does not make a "brilliant" film. and while i like tom hardy, hasnt he played enough characters with unintelligible/mumbling dialogue at this pt?

I am agreeing with you that this film fell apart after an absolutely incredible first portion. But I disagree with you about WHEN it fell apart. To me this film was absolutely fantastic until SPOILER ALERT: Glass is found again by the people of the fort. After that the film really went down a notch in writing and acting. some real cheese happening with certain lines...

They should have just ended it upon Glass being found.

Other quibbles: Although Hardy was excellent and made me chuckle when he told a story about his brother seeing God in a tree... His evilness was just kind of too over the top... too forced.. again this was a problem with the writing.... a little bit amateurish and cheesy. I absolutely did not like the spirit symbolism with the bird coming out Glass's wife and his visions of her floating... It seems to be some theme the director keeps jamming into his films... at least since Birdman (which also turned to shit at the end, after being absolutely awesome for most of its runtime).

In summary, what a gorgeous film. The choreography (if that's what it's called) and the way certain action scenes progressed were genius. It seemed to be like we were watching a live event or documentary. Excellent camera movements and cinematography. Bonus points for the gore and blood. The last half hour absolutely ruins what preceded it.

The Revenant (minus the last half hour): 8.8/10
The Revenant (including last half hour): 6/10

[Hazekiah]

Finally got to see this!

Well, actually...I should clarify that I finally got to see it and REMEMBER it, that is.

The first time I watched this movie was back-to-back with my umpteenth viewing of Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens immediately beforehand. I kinda had to rush out the door that morning to catch a last minute ride to the theater, so I wound up skipping breakfast and lunch and going straight into the theater on an empty stomach. At some point during the two movies I finished a pint of vodka, which normally wouldn't be too big a deal except I'd gone to a clinic for a pinched nerve a few days earlier and I was on muscle relaxants and codeine, so that vodka pretty much kicked my ass. Whoopsie! Apparently I was still alert and well-behaved, I just have ZERO recollection of it, lol.

But I digress!

The point is I finally made it back to the theater for another double-feature and OMFG I AM SO GLAD I DID. Man, what a movie! Obviously, it's doing strong business anyway, but I'm still glad it got my money TWICE. No regrets! It definitely earned it.

Plus, it was a GREAT movie to see in tandem with a Star Wars movie...extra Hux with a side of tauntaun, w00t!

But anyway. What an absolutely GORGEOUS and FANTASTIC movie.

I think the scene that's stayed with me the most is the BRILLIANT transition after Glass crawls out of his shallow grave and drags himself over to his son's corpse. I really, really liked the way the movie cut so smoothly from the hand-me-down speech Glass gives to his son (about branches bending in the wind and strength of the trees), before laying his head on the son's chest and gazing up at the trees swaying in the breeze as he lapses into unconsciousness. That ALONE would have been poignant enough, but the camera pan following the vapors of his breath as he exhales into the sky, which then follows the roiling, churning clouds as they undulate overhead, before finally panning across the cloudscape and into the smoke Hardy's character exhaled from his pipe atop the mountain above them fucking REALLY took it to the next level.

It's absolutely ABSURD to think that someone could watch the same movie and disregard it as just a bunch of mumbles and grunts.

[cahernandez]

I'm in the camp that doesn't get the movie, and I wanted it to be good because of the director being Mexican, you always want to root for your countrymen but this didn't resonate with me at all. Most of the gore (specially the last scene) was completely unnecessary. Di Caprio should had won the Oscar for Wolf of Wall Street, he doesn't deserve it for this one (Damon was better on The Martian). This article sums it up real good: "The Revenant is The Passion of the Christ of wilderness survival movies. Yeah, it all looks cold and tough and man Leo really puked but I want the emotional truth." http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/12/...e-the-revenant

[bobbie solo]

the opening scene

the bear scene

when Glass has to get inside the horse for the night

the countless jaw dropping shots...cinematography overload

when Glass and the solo Native American stick their tongues out to catch the snow....literally the only moment of humor in the whole movie

Hardy, the writers & Inarttiu's ability to make us hate Hardy's character as much as one can hate a fictional character in a movie